#fxii

"And so, House Solidor lives on..." Happy 20th anniversary, FFXII!

I saw someone say that Dr. Cid's lasts words were a final bit of spite and I disagree, Dr. Cid said that out of love. He tells Balthier to fly, to flee the tower because he still cares about his son and wants him to live (because everything is about to explode). This is driven home because Fran (who unequivocally cares about balthier) says the exact same thing to Balthier right after: to fly, to which he responds not without her. During the credits we get an illustration of Dr. Cid smiling at a baby balthier in his arms. In game balthier says that is was 6 years ago that he lost his father (to nethercite and venat) which implies that D. Cid was a dad to him before that point and that he used to have a good relationship with his father (afterall yoh cannot lose what you never had). With Dr. Cid's nethercite ambitions fulfilled and his body turning to mist, the road blocks between them were gone. Dr. Cid always loved his son even after Balthier's defection but it was only at the end that he could once again express his love for the final time.

Wow the king of Dalmasca assassination really was a hell of a setup, he was going to surrender anyways but Vayne had him killed to crush Dalmasca's spirit. He spread a rumor that the treaty signing was a ruse for an assassination knowing that the knights and Basch would come to the king's rescue, and then specifically used Basch's presence to do a body double twin swap with Gabranth to pin the murder on Basch so that Dalmasca would lose not only their king but one of their great heros.

Basch is like the most wanted man in Ivalice since we broke him out of the max security jail cell and the most hated man in Dalmasca, and this is never brought up again, so much so that I forgot about this until now. Did Gabranth not tell anyone the party escaped?? And this is after Vaan goes around yelling "Basch lives!" Does no one recognize him? Zero consequence jail break. I wonder if there's captain Basch fon Rosenburg survived conspiracy theories circulating around Ivalice. And then they do the twin swap again! Basch takes up Noah Gabaranth's name and life, so Basch will never be confirmed alive by the public.

the Dalmascan resistance sort of falls off the face of the earth plot wise after Vossler cuts a deal with the Empire like we don't hear about them after that and I kind of like that. Some of them may have sided with Vossler or Ondor, but more than anything it drives home how powerless the resistence (and Ashe) have been for most of the game. The absence of the resistance for most of the game emphasized how Ashe is almost entirely acting on her own for her own sake. Ashe is partly so driven to seek the deifacted nethercite because she has no leverage, no real power (military, political, etc.). The resistance was kinda of doomed. Vossler wasn't wrong to to try and negotiate with Archades. At that point in the story Ashe was hellbent on a hopeless revenge and would have made Dalmasca's position worse. She did not have the power to effectively fight the Empire but she was willing to do so anyways and have Dalmasca take the retribution and fallout for her actions when she inevitably failed. I mean installing a puppet queen isn't a good outcome but its not a bad one and far better than the consequences of Ashe failing her revenge scheme. There is the question as to whether Ghis would have honored the deal though I think Vayne would have. I do think Vossler gave up the fight for independence too early, but given the situation Vossler didn't make a bad choice.

Vayne wants to be the Alexander of Macedonia of Ivalice, the next dynast-king. I think empire building is inherently evil since it necessitates invading and subjugating other nations and cultures and it's a breach of sovereignty. (does that mean i think alex and the british empire are evil? yup.) But Vayne could be worse, he could have been Bergan, but he's not Vayne isn't malicious or out to mke people suffer. He's also just generally competent and good at his job. His introduction is a speech appealing to pragmatism and the greater good of Dalmasca over petty personal grudges. Then he uses his inauguration feast as bait to lure the resistance in and rout them. So he's pragmatic, charismatic, clever, and ruthless. Vayne also knows the suffering and injustice he has caused and will cause but he is committed to his path. He is rational, efficiently seeking the best outcome. In another world he could have been reasoned with and had a redemption arc. What stopped him in the game was his determination which ironically is usually a heroic trait, and his ego as he wanted to be the one to unify Ivalice, to be this great figure lauded by the history books. A common misunderstanding I see is that Vayne is a cruel or inherently evil person and he's not. The truth is that it is his actions that make him so, he could have chosen differently. Vayne is ruthless and efficient but he's not there to draw out unnecessary suffering, as opposed to say Gabranth who had his brother imprisoned and tortured for 2 years or Bergan who is Bergan. The manga does not help this as manga Vayne has different characterization, but the manga in general wrote inferior versions of the FFXII cast. I think people make Vayne out to be a worse person than he actually is because they want someone to fill the role of designated bad guy even though FFXII was never a story about black and white morality. (well except maybe Bergan)

Mistress Freya Walpurga, The Ruler of Gold.

My Viera OC.

God am I pleased with her. I am so proud of my bun *cries*

This game is cruel